An Impression, August 2012

“I still remember the first time I brought my guitar to the Red Room to play. I could barely string three chords together back then…and I was scared…so scared. But I had to do it because I was writing all these songs…and songs are not alive unless people hear them.”

“So I got up and muddled through…head down, hunched, deeply ashamed of all the mistakes I was making and singing like a mouse. And I will never forget the relief of the genuine applause I heard after my song ended, because this is a community where people listen, really listen. Not to judge or to be passively entertained, but to find the heart of what everyone who come up here is trying to share. And so they were able to put aside my stumbling fingers and trembling voice and hear beauty.”

“So I came back, month after month. And I wrote new songs and fought to get them under my fingers. All that growth would not have happened without the support and encouragement I got from this place. But I gained most of all here not as a player, but as a listener. Because you cannot imagine all the wondrous things we all have to share with one another, when we start from the assumption that everybody who comes up here is good enough to deserve our full attention. And we can all come up here. And so we are all enough.”

Angelica Oung

>>>The lyrics to the song Angelica sang at the last RR follow:<<<

Sometimes

Sometimes…we all get a little under the weather sometimes…
We all wish that we could be a little better sometimes,
when what we have just don’t seem enough
you see, Somehow…along the line we left behind just who we are…
And before you know it, we have come so far
we can’t see our way back to the start
Oh, sometimes you act too tough,
sometimes you care too much
but you know sometimes…sometimes…

Somehow…it’s been forever and ever since we sat beneath the sun
and did nothing in particular all day long
wandering as lonely as a cloud
Oh, sometimes you act too tough,
sometimes you care too much
but you know sometimes…sometimes…
Sometimes you feel so tired of making decision
Sometimes you feel you’re ready to end it all
Sometimes you’re crushed under the weight of your contradictions
but you know sometimes…somewhere..somehow..
…you’ll find somebody…somebody who’s gonna take you for just who you are
then it doesn’t matter if you’re near or far
you’ll find your way right back to the start
Oh, someone to let you in
Someone to help you win
Don’t you know sometimes, you’ll find someplace where you belong…where you belong.